BUGS BONES AND BODIES Anthropology Entomology and Pathology

BUGS, BONES AND BODIES Anthropology Entomology, and Pathology

Manner of Death • Manner of death is the legal circumstance in which the death occurred. • Manner is classified into five categories: natural, homicide, suicide, accident, or undetermined, based on the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Cause of Death • The reason (“why”)someone dies is called cause of death. The most important determination in a violent death is the character of the injury that started the chain of events that resulted in death. • Some common causes of death include Blunt Force Injury – caused by a non-sharpened object such as a bat or pipe.

• Sharp Force Trauma - weapons with sharp edges capable of cutting or stabbing. • Asphyxia – encompasses a variety of conditions that involve interference with the intake of oxygen such as strangulation or suffocation.

• One indicator of strangulation is petechiae - pinpoint hemorrhaging often observed in the white area of the victim’s eyes.

Gunshot Wounds – estimating the range is the most important characteristic to analyze. • Substance Abuse – can cause death or complications that lead to death.

Stages of Death • Time of death (TOD) is often estimated by evaluating the stage of decomposition in which the victim was found. • Rigor mortis – the medical condition that occurs after death and results in the shortening of muscle tissue and the stiffening of body parts in the position they are in when death occurs.

• Livor mortis – the medical condition that occurs after death and results in the settling of blood in areas of the body closest to the ground. It is called lividity. • Begins about 2 hours after death. • Between 2 -8 hrs lividity present but if skin is pressed color will disappear. • Permanent after 8 hours even when pressed.

• Algor mortis – postmortem changes that cause a body to lose heat. • Rate of heat loss is influenced by such factors such as the location and size of the body, the victim’s clothing, and weather conditions.

• The general rule is that beginning about an hour after death, the body will lose heat at a rate of approximately 1 to 1 ½ degrees Fahrenheit per hour until the body reaches the environmental temperature. • During an autopsy, other factors can be observed that may indicate the time period in which death occurred. For example, the amount of food in the stomach can help to estimate when a person’s last meal was eaten.

Stages of Bodily Breakdown • Initial decay – externally, the corpse appears much as it did in life, but decomposition has begun due to the actions of “bacteria, protozoans, and nematodes” already present in the body when it was alive. • Stages of decomposition

• Putrefaction – Gas formed by the activity of organisms within the body cause it to swell and smell.

• Black putrefaction – a bit of a misnomer, actually, as the characteristic discoloration of the flesh accompanying this stage may be blue, green, purple, brown, or black. The swelling of the previous stage collapses again as that gas begins to escape. The swelling decreases, but the smell increases dramatically.

• Butyric fermentation – tissues and organs have become fluid, fluid has escaped by a variety of means, and now the body begins to dessicate (to dry out). Mold usually covers some or all of the exterior. A different odor – not good, but not as “knock you over and send you gagging” as the previous one – is noticeable.

• Dry decay – not mummification, but a slow process of continuous decay, during which time the tissues continue to rot, dry out, and shrink until skeletization has occurred.

Forensic Pathology • Forensic pathology involves the investigation of sudden, unnatural, unexplained, or violent deaths. • Usually medical examiners or coroners. • Primary role is to determine cause of death. • Autopsy – the medical dissection and examination of a body in order to determine the cause of death.

Forensic Anthropology • Forensic anthropology is a specialty that is concerned primarily with the identification and examination of human skeletal remains. • Skeletal bones are remarkably durable and undergo an extremely slow breakdown process that will last decades or centuries.

• An examination of bones may reveal their origin, sex, approximate age, race, and skeletal injury.

• Closures in the sutures of the skull are indicators of age.

The male skull is rougher with a large brow ridge and occipital protuberance. The female skull is smoother with a high forehead.

• The pelvis is the easiest way to determine gender. The female pelvis is wider, circular and tilted outward. The male pelvis is narrow, noncircular and tilted inward.

Forensic Entomology • The study of insects and their relation to a criminal investigation. • By determining the most developed stage of fly found on the body, entomologists can approximate the postmortem interval (PMI). • Postmortem interval (PMI) - the length of time that has elapsed since a person has died.

Blowflies • Blowfly eggs are laid in human remains and ultimately hatch into maggots that consume human organs and tissues. • Life cycle progresses from egg to first instar (a stage of larval growth, usually determined by maggot size and how often it has shed its skin) larvae, to second instar larvae, to third instar larvae, to prepupae, to pupae within puparium, and on to imago. • The length of each stage is dependent on environmental conditions.

• Before determining how long a body has been dead, the entomologist must first have a good idea of when the first blowflies arrived and laid eggs on the body. • Blowflies are not native to all areas so other species are also studied so that experts can discover their cycle.

Other Bug Notes • An entomologist must be familiar with the insects of the region where a body was found or where death occurred - not necessarily the same place. • Photographs should include adult insects of all species in the vicinity, evidence of insect activity in any standing blood, and the remains of insect activity. • Body parts showing insect infestation need photographing before the body is removed.

• Air temperatures at ground level, about 5 feet high, and ground surface temperatures under the body should be recorded. • Live-specimens, remains, and preserved samples of all insects should be collected. • Documentation of the scene must be included. • Lack of insects or nonnative insects should also be recorded. • Weather data allows entomologists to adjust life cycle equations.